Venture Studio

This week’s guest is Jonathan Lehr (@fendien), Co-Founder and General Partner at Work-Bench (@Work_Bench). Work-Bench helps scale enterprise technology startups by providing community and workspace, connecting exceptional builders to Fortune 500 buyers, and co-investing in extraordinary founders tackling enormous markets. Remember - all of our shows are available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio. This episode, we’re going to start with a few thoughts on the VC ecosystem and some recent headlines from Dave. Then, we’ll jump right into Dave’s amazing interview with Jon. ===== Work-Bench http://www.work-bench.com/ Andreessen Horowitz’s Returns Trail Venture-Capital Elite by Rolfe Winkler http://www.wsj.com/articles/andreessen-horowitzs-returns-trail-venture-capital-elite-1472722381 A(Junior)VC The best place for junior VC's to hang is on the fringe by Jonathan Libov http://whoo.ps/2016/08/31/a-junior-vc

Welcome back to Venture Studio, and welcome back to our fantastic two-part interview with Naval Ravikant of AngelList. If you missed part one, go check it out at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. In part 1 of this interview, Dave and Naval talked about AngelList, syndicates and startup funding. In part 2, things got quite a bit more philosophical. In this interview, Naval and Dave cover power dynamics and haters in venture, the American political system - Trump, Bernie and Hilary - the disruption of the wealthy elite and, of course, South Park. In this episode, Dave revers to this post by Naval called The American Spring: https://medium.com/the-mission/american-spring-d6a8320bf712#.k4ppdt9pd

This week’s guest really needs no introduction. Naval Ravikant is the founder and CEO of AngelList (angel.co). AngelList is the go-to platform for startups to raise money online, recruit employees, and apply for funding. Naval and AngelList are on a mission to democratize the fundraising process. This interview was a big one, so we’re breaking it into a two-parter - make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss part 2. Remember - all of our shows are venturestudio.org and on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. If you like this episode, you’ll love our interviews with Ming Yeh of CSC Upshot and Dustin Dolginow of Maiden Lane. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio.

This week’s guest is Matt Harrigan, Co-Founder of Grand Central Tech. Grand Central Tech is a yearlong accelerator in midtown Manhattan that actually sounds quite different from most accelerators: One year. No Rent. No Equity. GCT surrounds its companies with the best possible programming, resources and strategic partners to offer an unparalleled value proposition. Remember - all of our shows are on venturestudio.org and on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. If you like this episode, you’ll love Episode 21 with Brad Hargreaves, founder of Common, a GCT alum. Make sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio.

This week, Zach Aarons of MetaProp NYC and Millennium Partners joins us on the podcast. MetaProp NYC is an accelerator that brings together the brightest minds in real estate and technology to help quickly build promising young real estate companies. Check out our entire archive of interviews at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Zach discusses all things real estate tech - from nitty gritty pain points in each sub sector to history, macro trends, insights into the future of real estate tech.

This week, Julian Counihan of Red Sea Ventures joins us on the podcast. Check out our entire archive of interviews - including Dave’s epic two-part interview with Bitcoin Jesus Roger Ver - at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn and now Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Julian discusses Red Sea Ventures’ origins and generalist investment strategy. Then, Dave and Julian go deep into drones, bitcoin and virtual reality.

This week, Roger Ehrenberg (@infoarbitrage), Managing Partner at IA Ventures joins us on the podcast. Check out our entire archive of interviews at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn and now Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Roger discusses IA Ventures’ investment focus (and debunks a few rumors about “big data” in the process), he digs deep into portfolio modeling theory for VCs, and shares his views about the difference between novel technology and novel insights.

This week, Ulrich Quay, the Head of BMW i Ventures joins us on the podcast. If you like this episode about mobility and hardware, you’ll love Dave’s interview with Jenny Fielding, head of Techstars IoT program. Check out our entire archive at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Google Play. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. BMW i Ventures invests in cutting-edge solutions focusing on the mobility needs of the urban population. The corporate venture arm of BWM invests in high-potential start-ups in all stages, from early stage to late stage, which are dedicated to shaping the future of global mobility. In today’s episode, Ulrich talks about BMWi’s investment focus, some trends in mobility and vehicle technology, and a few of BMWi’s portfolio companies such as Zirx, Life360 and Chargepoint.

This week, Eliot Durbin, General Partner at Boldstart Ventures, joins the show. Miss an episode, such as the Dave’s classic interview with SoftTech’s founder Jeff Clavier that Elliot referenced during this week’s show? Check out our entire archive at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Eliot talks about Boldstart’s investment themes for this year - Googlization of IT, SaaS 2.0 and Smart Data. In addition, Eliot and Dave also discuss the rise of shadow IT at large enterprises, the market potential in B2B on-demand, and how to tell the difference between a pretty big problem and really big problem.

This week, Jenny Fielding joined the show from Techstars, where she is the Managing Director leading the FinTech and Internet of Things programs in New York City. Looking for more Techstars NYC interviews, like our November talk with Alex Iskold or Dave’s classic 2011 interview with David Tisch? You can listen to our entire catalog of episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. Remember to subscribe on iTunes so you never miss an episode and follow us on twitter @venturestudio to stay up to date. In today’s episode, Jenny discusses Techstars’ upcoming New York industrial internet of things program, how entrepreneurs should approach accelerators in general and Techstars specifically, and what “traction” actually means these days.

This week, Dave interviews Paul Martino, founder and General Partner at Bullpen Capital, one of the pioneers in post-seed round funding. Remember to subscribe to Venture Studio on iTunes so you never miss an episode. As always, you can find us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. Paul founded Bullpen in 2010 and has led several of its key investments including FanDuel, the leader in daily fantasy sports. Prior to starting Bullpen Capital, Paul was the founder of four companies and an active angel investor in companies such as Zynga, TubeMogul, uDemy, and PayNearMe. In today’s episode, Paul discusses how the herd mentality of most venture investors presented a huge opportunity for Bullpen, how to effectively manage a board and what its like to be coached by Bill Campbell.

This week, Dave interviews Brad Hargreaves, founder of Common, co-founder of General Assembly, Venture Partner at Maveron and angel investor. Remember to subscribe to Venture Studio on iTunes so you never miss an episode. As always, you can find us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. In today’s episode, Brad introduces Common - the first company combining brand, technology and design in the residential real estate market at scale. Later in the episode, Brad discusses the fundamental friction between consistency and coherence in great branding. Finally, a fun fact: Brad is our third consecutive guest who started his career selling weird stuff online.

This week, Dave interviews Phil Toronto of Vayner/RSE, an early stage venture capital fund formed by VaynerMedia and RSE Ventures. Make sure to subscribe to Venture Studio on iTunes so you never have to worry about missing an episode. As always, you can find us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org or on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher or TuneIn. In today’s episode, Phil and Dave discuss the importance of marketing and branding, even for early stage companies, some advice for startups as they consider partnering with a Fortune 500 company, and a few predictions for 2016. We wrap up with quick discussions about VR, verticalized brands and the art of storytelling.

Welcome back to Venture Studio and welcome back to our fascinating two-part interview with Bitcoin Jesus, Roger Ver. We pick up part 2 right after Roger described how and why he renounced his US citizenship. Dave kicks off episode two on the same thread, asking Roger about the repercussions of his actions and beliefs, including a stint in federal prison. After discussing the justice system and unauthorized explosive sales, we reel it back to bitcoin by digging into blockchain, fixed supply and some predictions for 2016.

We have a very special two-part episode coming at you starting this week. Our guests is Roger Ver, entrepreneur, bitcoin investor, bitcoin evangelist, and voluntaryist. If you think we’re just going to talk about bitcoin on this episode, think again. Roger Ver, nicknamed “Bitcoin Jesus” is an interesting guy. Credited as the first person in the world to invest in bitcoin startups, he’s been the leading voice and catalyst in bitcoin ecosystem for years. Why? according to his website rogerver.com, Bitcoin is the most important invention in the history of the world since the internet and if you don't already know about it, google it. In part 1 of our two-part series, Dave and Roger discuss why people should care about bitcoin, a few companies that are accelerating mainstream bitcoin adoption and why bitcoin is a non-political means to freeing up the entire world’s economy. We take a quick foray into macroeconomic and government theory and then, for good measure, they’ll talk about George Washington, Vietna

This week, we are thrilled to welcome Huoy Ming Yeh to the show. Ming is co-founder and managing partner of CSC Upshot Ventures, the largest fund dedicated to financing seed-stage startups, ever. If you’re the type of person who listens to the Venture Studio podcast regularly, you probably heard about CSC Upshot launching in October. If not, it was a big deal. Here is some background- CSC Upshot is a $400MM venture fund created to invest primarily in US seed-stage technology startups via AngelList. It’s biggest LP is CSC Group, one of China’s 3 largest private equity firms, with $12B under management. Remember, if you’re a fan Venture Studio, please subscribe on iTunes so you never have to miss an episode. If you’re feeling up to it, do us a favor and leave a 5-star rating and review in the iTunes store- it helps other people find the show. As always, you can connect with us on twitter @ventureStudio and you can listen to prior episodes at venturestudio.org, and on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and

This week, we welcome Dustin Dolginow to The Studio. Dustin a co-founder of Maiden Lane Ventures, the first institutional venture fund built for AngelList Syndicates. Here’s an excerpt from Maiden Lane’s AngelList page: Raising seed capital is unnecessarily complicated. Great angel investors have always helped founders cut through the noise. Maiden Lane's mission is to make partnering with world-class angels more impactful. To do that, we use capital and software to rethink the workflow of seed investing. Seems pretty logical, right? Maybe even a bit boring? Well, not really. Syndicates and funds like Maiden Lane have been called, progressive, disruptive, cute and fraudulent, and everything in between. Today, we’ll learn why. Dave and Dustin discuss the facts behind Syndicates, the massive opportunity for individual investors and founders that Syndicates presents, and the support, critiques and criticisms from others in the venture capital industry. They’ll also talk more broadly about how thought

This week, Dave interviews Craig Shapiro, the founder and managing partner of Collaborative Fund. In this episode, Craig talks about his views on the future of consumption, how to court and land awesome LPs like Pharrell, and how your company’s values can be used as a weapon. Collaborative Fund is centered on two macro themes: the growth of the creative class and the concept of collaborative consumption. Their portfolio companies include AngelList, Codecademy, Earnest, Grand St, HelloSign, Kickstarter, Lyft, Maker Studios, Reddit and TaskRabbit. In addition to those, Dave and Craig discuss a few other portfolio companies in depth on today’s episode, including Hampton Creek, Walker & Co and AltSchool.

In this week's episode, Dave continues a fascinating two-part interview with John Frankel, the founder of ff venture capital. When we left part 1 last week, John was just starting to describe a tech future with just a few behemoths owning the lion’s share of every market. This week, in part 2, Dave and John discuss how to find growth in a zero growth world and the potential down sides of tech shrinking the globe. Finally, they revisit John’s prognostications (from four years ago on this very show) about about the late-stage valuation bubble that we find ourselves in today and the implications on today’s early-stage environment.

In this week’s episode, you’ll hear part 1 of an amazing two part interview with John Frankel, the founder of ff Venture Capital. Dave and John discuss how ff approaches investing, what functions ff provides to it’s portfolio companies and why they do it, the label on the back of the honey bottle, and what it means to be living in a world of abundance. John Frankel is the founding partner of ff Venture Capital, and has been an early-stage investor since 1999. John has served as a director of over 35 companies and an investor in more than 76 companies, including Cornerstone OnDemand, Indiegogo, Ionic Security, Klout, SkyCatch, Plated, 500px, Distil Networks, and Bottlenose.